Pants on my head!

Ever put pants on your child's head?

They might look at you like you've lost your mind.....

Or they might think it's the funniest thing ever....

You might even find yourself singing our favorite song, "pants on the head, pants on the head! Somebody's got pants on their head!" 

So much talent going on over here.

First Time Foods

We've hit the point in time where we make the shift from oatmeal cereal to regular pureed "solid" foods. This is BIG.

From the time I was pregnant, I had decided I was going to make baby food for Adly, for as long as I could stand it. I took the approach of, "if it works and is easy, great. If not, that's ok too." I didn't want too much pressure on myself to make all of it. I don't have strong opinions either way of whether you make your own food or not. For me, it's just something I wanted to try.

I have to say it's waaaaay easier than I ever thought it would be. The hardest part of starting solids for me has been how and when and how much to feed it to Adly. Figuring out a schedule is still a work in process, but I think we're getting it.

For now, we are feeding solids 1-2x a day. In the morning and then in the afternoon. She nurses and then an hour later I give her an ounce of solids. In the afternoon I give her two ounce of solids. See below to find out what is an "ounce". From what I've heard, once she hits six months is when she will begin to "rely" on the puree as a meal so we will likely be adding in more at that time.

To make your own baby food, all you need is a steamer basket, a big pot, an ice cube tray, quart/gallon size ziploc bags and veggies/fruits of your choosing. So simple!

For Adly's first food, I chose sweet potato. This was mostly because it was what I had already bought from the store. Doctors are now saying you don't have to go by the old standby of "veggies first, then fruit". My doc in particular was also very encouraging of using spices that I normally use so that Adly adapts to our style of eating early on. Therefore, I got a little crazy and even added some cinnamon to the sweet potato puree. Thrilling stuff, I know.

When it comes to loosening up the puree in order to make it easier for them to eat, you can use breast milk, formula or the cooking water. For the sweet potato puree, since I didn't steam it and didn't have any liquid, I chose to use breast milk. However, BM is liquid gold, so anytime I steam foods, I'll be using the cooking water as the liquid.

Once you've created your puree, you can keep it covered in the fridge for up to 3 days. Most veggies/fruits will give you more than 3 days worth, so you'll want to store it in the freezer. For this part, you pour the puree into the freezer tray. Each individual cube is 1 ounce. Isn't that easy? Cover the tray with plastic wrap and freeze. Once frozen, run the back of the tray under hot water to loosen the cubes. Place the cubes into a dated and labeled Ziploc bag. Every night, take out cubes for the next day's meals and place in a covered tupperware for serving. They unthaw overnight and are ready to eat!

Adly seemed to really enjoy the sweet potato. Unfortunately, my phone decided it was full the moment we began recording her first eating experience. Technology!! But I did capture some of it.

Pureed Sweet Potato:
1-2 medium organic sweet potatoes
Baking sheet
Food processor
Breast milk/formula/water

Using a fork, poke a bunch of holes into the potato. Place on a baking sheet and roast at 400 degrees for 45-60 minutes, until soft. Pull out of the oven and let cool. Once cooled, cut open and spoon out the sweet potato into the food processor or blender. Add in your liquid (can be breast milk, formula, or water), little by little and blend. Keep adding liquid until the puree has reached a consistency you feel your baby can handle. (I went by the consistency of the oatmeal cereal we've been feeding). Add in a dash of cinnamon, if you feel a little crazy and then serve to baby. Don't forget the bib!

All ready to eat

Before: excited baby!

After: happy baby!

DIY Xmas Photo Shoot

I absolutely love to DIY just about anything and love the process of finding out how to create things on my own. However, I'm really not that good at it. I have a short attention span and no patience, so I like to complete projects quickly, usually skipping over important details. Clearly, I don't naturally possess the tools to be a good crafter/DIYer.

This holiday season, I excitedly set out to do a little Christmas photo shoot for Adly via some photography "how to's" I found on Pinterest. Per usual, I didn't pay much attention to detail and just wanted to get it done so I could see the final results. The goal was to have Adam there to help out, but alas, he wasn't around on the day, during the hours I just had to have it done. I'll admit, I have a problem.

Per the tutorial, I used a white sheet we already have here at home and laid it out on top of the bed. I then strung white xmas lights all around our headboard. I had picked up some cute little Christmas decorations to use a props that I found in the trusty Target $1 section (yet, why is it every time I enter that store I cannot leave with spending less than $50!?!).

I put Adly in a red headband and a pair of white bloomers. I would've loved to have had her in some cute baby leg warmers, but again...the patience. The headband and bloomers were items that I had at home.

Anyways, once the background and my model were set up, I started shooting. Here's another place where I didn't/wouldn't take the time to follow instructions. I'm not a photographer, but I have a fancy camera. That doesn't mean you'll still take great pictures. The lighting was terrible in all of the pictures, so all of them required editing. Next time, I'd make sure we are in a well-lit area and maybe, just maybe, I'll actually read up on how to use my fancy camera properly beforehand.

Thankfully, because there must be other impatient, wannabe photographers out there, there are fantastic photo editing websites. My favorite has become Pic Monkey. It's like a user friendly version of photoshop for dummies, and it's free! Because of this website, my impromptu, un-thought-out photo shoot was saved.

I attempted to make this a "how to" post...but clearly it's become more of a "what not to do". Either way, even if you only own an iPhone, I suggest trying out taking pictures of your little one. Why not? You really can't go wrong, now that you've read all the ways you can!

Happy Holidays!! From our crazy family to yours....

5 Months

I'm 5 months today!!

-Big Girl Food! At four and a half months on the day after Thanksgiving, we introduced Adly to oatmeal cereal. She loved it and has since thoroughly enjoyed anytime she gets to eat "real people food". She knows the chair she eats in, knows her bibs, knows her spoon and ladybug bowl. It's so cute to see her acknowledge when it's time to eat. She does this by excitedly kicking and holding out her hands ready to eat. Miss independent also likes to try to grab the spoon and do it herself.

-Spit Up. This month has also brought on the spit up. For most of her short life, Adly hasn't been much of a spitter-upper. I think the combination of adding cereals and sitting up more has attributed to this. I'm not looking forward to the colorful pukies that will be coming once we start incorporating real foods.

-Roll Over, Roll Over. Also over Thanksgiving weekend, Adly began rolling over from her back to her tummy. She's now an expert at it and does almost every time she is placed on her back. The problem is, once she gets to her tummy, she doesn't know what to do with herself. Her inability to move just yet brings on the frustration and tears pretty quickly. But, we're getting there.

Happiness before the frustrations.

-Reach Out. Adly has also started to reach out her arms when she sees mom or dad coming, asking to be picked up. The only problem with this unbelievably cute act is that I can never say no to it. This has brought on a bit of the clingy-ness again. But that's ok for now.

-Back to Work. This is my last month at home with Adly. I'm looking at it with the most optimism I can. I know I'm unbelievably lucky for getting to stay home as long as I have. Therefore, I'm trying to soak in every last second while I can and enjoy our mommy and Adly time to the fullest.

Lazy Sunday

Sometimes you just need a day to forget the dishes, the laundry, and life in general. So as the frigid air and first snow blew in today, we holed ourselves up inside where it was all warm and toasty and had ourselves a girls day. 

 Love my buggy boo. 

  Hi mom! Just reading my book while you make my cereal!

 It's snowing!

 Mom! Do you see that white stuff!?!

Touchy Face

Adly's latest discovery has been the realization that those things that flail all around her regularly can be controlled to actually move and touch things. And when she touches those things, she can feel them. How cool is that?!

She started out by grabbing things I'd dangle over her. Even this simple act is neat to watch, as she slowly brings her hands up together and touches the object each time. You can see the gears turning in her head as she makes contact with her hands, that what she is feeling is what she is somehow touching.

Then she began touching my face. As usual, I had to fight back tears the first few times she did it. She was standing on my lap the first time it happened, face to face with me. The look on her face of pure curiosity as she brought up her hands and slowly touched my chin was priceless. Then her hands slowly traveled to my cheek. Then to my nose. And to my mouth. 

Now she loves investigating different faces of all different people, but of course I'm still the favorite. At least that's what I tell myself. The photo below was taken by our cousin Emily randomly on a Saturday evening. It's a display of her beautiful curiosity that is now captured forever. And it's moments like these that make me want time to slow down, wishing I could remember every second of this journey.

Santa Baby

This weekend we packed up the car and headed to my hometown in Michigan to kick off the holidays.

As I've gotten older and moved away from my home state, Thanksgiving has become our big family holiday. Over the years, we've melded together a sort of holiday tradition that includes bowling with any cousins, aunts and uncles, and friends that are free. After a few games we then head to our aunt Julie and uncle Kevin's house. There we fill up again on leftovers and stay up late playing card games, ping pong, and having lots of laughs. It's one of my most favorite days of the year.

 
Unfortunately, this year was different for a few reasons. For one obvious reason, I now have a baby. But we also recently had a bout of breast cancer strike our family, more specifically, my aunt Julie. She underwent a double mastectomy the day before Thanksgiving in an effort to eliminate all of the cancer. This definitely put a damper on our usual holiday cheer. Not only is aunt Julie awesome, but she's also known as the best singer, clapper, and cooker in our family. (Just kidding of course. She's really not that great at any of those things...though you CAN hear her claps from miles away). Thankfully the surgery went well and she spent the remainder of the weekend being spoiled by her loving husband, kids, family, and hundreds of friends on Facebook. I can't even begin to count the love, prayers, and shout outs she has received in the last week, and that in itself explains why this Thanksgiving was just different.

Despite some of the sadness of the holidays and obvious family members missing from our celebrations, we did have one event that we were very much looking forward to. And that was introducing Adly to santa. So Sunday morning, we dressed her up in her cutie patootie leopard dress and red bow and headed off to the mall. Adam and I fully expected Adly to have a meltdown, crying her eyes out at this strange man with a big white beard holding her. We would giggle and tell the people to keep snapping pics to get the best screaming picture. It would be classic.

But despite our predictions, Adly ended up loving santa. In fact, her favorite part of him was his beard,  which thankfully was real, as she got a good hold of it and gave her best yank. We had decided to go to the local mall in my hometown to avoid the long lines and crowds at malls in Chicago, and I'm so glad we did. The santa was so kind and the elves working the station took their time and let us take multiple pictures to get the best one.

Here's a few shots of our sweet pea's first intro to the jolly, fat man who will stock her tree and stockings full of goodies for many Christmas's to come.